Khalid Al Rumaihi

Bahrian-based investment firm Investcorp announced its three most recent equity investments in the US real estate market, which brings its real estate investments this year to $300 million.

Investcorp has just closed on its purchase of the seven-story Park Tower office complex in Long Beach, California for an undisclosed price. It follows Investcorp's $37 million acquisition of the Bethesda Health City building in Boynton Beach, Florida and of the Ashford, a 221 unit garden and townhouse community composed of 15 residential buildings located in Atlanta, Georgia.

Persian Gulf Arab institutions are likely to boost hedge fund investments this year as they seek to diversify assets and stabilize returns, according to Investcorp of Bahrain, which manages $12 billion - the Bloomberg is reporting.

The Gulf usually follow trends in the U.S., where investors helped push global hedge fund assets to $1.6 trillion last year from $1.3 trillion in 2008, Khalid al-Rumaihi, Investcorp’s managing director for placement, said at a conference in Dubai. Investcorp manages $4.5 billion in funds of hedge funds after adding $1.3 billion of assets last year, all from U.S. financial firms, he said. “You will have more investments from the Gulf this year,” al-Rumaihi said. “We would expect a very good year” as global markets are likely to remain volatile, he said.